Vinicius Junior Likely To Make His Real Madrid Debut Against Espanyol

Real Madrid manager Julen Lopetegui has discussed the possibility of Vinicius Junior making his debut against Espanyol, as he considers rotating his squad to combat a congested run of fixtures.

Vinicius, 18, joined Real Madrid over the summer and while he made four appearances during the club’s pre-season fixtures he has yet to make his senior debut having featured primarily for the club’s reserve side.

Real Madrid are now set to play five games in the space of just two weeks, and Lopetegui is conscious of utilising the depth of his squad to ensure maximum points are obtained throughout this period.

“It’s normal that the fixture list is like this. When a team is playing in the Champions League it’s the way things are and we have to approach it game-by-game and knowing that the squad depth we have will be used,” Lopetegui said, via AS.

“Football is not about the starting XI, in every game there are 14 players and in a squad that wants to win everything everybody is important. No two players are the same and all of them want to put into practice what we are trying to achieve.”